Social Media Marketing, Social Network Optimization

Why Did You Launch This Site?
F The Big Three? That's a bit harsh isn't it?
How do you *DO* Social Media Properly?
Does Every Company Need a Blog?

1. Why Did You Launch This Site?

Websites are no longer JUST websites. They are well oiled ecommerce machines that help businesses grow from small to medium and medium to large. Whether you are driving sales directly through your site, generating leads or just simply trying to increase traffic, there is so much you need to know before getting started.

This site was created to illustrate the opportunities available for marketing products and services beyond the top 3 search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN). Stepping outside the box and looking at other more direct areas to engage with your audience has proven to be extremely successful for our clients.

2. F The Big Three? That's a bit harsh isn't it?

In the pre-cable days of television, viewers had the big three networks to choose from and maybe one or two local channels that showed old movies or kid's programming. The market was new and the audience was found on those channels. If you wanted to place TV advertising, you did so at the big three networks.

Then along came cable and blew the market wide open. Want to advertise golf clubs? A good place might be the Golf Channel. Pet products? Try Animal Planet. There is such specialization in TV today that cheaper alternatives have opened up the market to a huge group of advertisers. The old "big three” are still big, but they aren't the only players.

A similar mindset to the pre-cable days of television prevails today in the world of search. Many search firms, likely urged by their clients, think only in terms of Google, Yahoo! And MSN. The client comes to the table with the typical, "Make me #1” mentality, and by that they usually mean #1 on Google. If they have the money, you can do that for them on the paid side. If they've got the patience, you can get them close on the organic side.

But what about the client who can't afford to throw tons of money at a paid search campaign? Are you still trying to convince them that Google, Yahoo! and MSN are where it's at? Are you citing stats that say, "Well, you know, the big three drive 70% of search traffic”?

That's true. A high percentage of search traffic comes from the big three. But here's news: online marketing isn't just about search. If TV were a paperback novel, the Internet would be a library by comparison. Or a campus of libraries. Talk about specialization.

Now, the title of this piece was designed to hook you, and I want to clarify at this point what I mean by, "F the Big 3.” It means, "Forget the big three for a few minutes and look at some other options.” (It was a much better alternative to "Leveraging Your Global Channel Partners While Strategizing for Maximum ROI.” You've read enough of that drivel by now.)

If the Web 2.0 phenomenon taught us anything (aside from the fact that people will throw venture capital at some of the dumbest ideas ever hatched) it's that the Internet is starting to be used the way it was meant to be in the first place - communally. There are literally hundreds of thousands of websites where people who might be interested in your products or services are visiting. And on each of those websites, there are likely at least three ways you can reach those people. Why focus all of your efforts on the big three?

3. How do you DO Social Media Properly?

Easily the area with the most potential for abuse by online marketers is social media. The term is so broad, for starters, that it has come to mean any way in which you "engage the consumer” online. A blogger friend of mine, a copywriter at a New York City advertising agency, has coined the term "Your Brand is Not My Friend.” (Google that phrase and you'll find his blog.) In that phrase is a very good warning for marketers leaping into MySpace and Facebook on behalf of their clients without thinking through what the goals are. When you intrude on an area considered private by users, you've probably not helped your client. You may have done the opposite.

But there are other ways of practicing social media. I'll give an example that can apply to any business. If there is a forum out there for professional landscapers and you sell commercial lawnmowers, shouldn't you at least have a banner ad on that site? Sure, it's a tiny site with maybe 200 members, but it's your audience. Would it be a wrong if you joined that forum and started contributing in a meaningful way, alerting other forum members to your products through something as unobtrusive as a signature that includes your URL? (Note I said, "contributing in a meaningful way.” If you're just going to boards, blogs and forums and pasting the same nonsensical linking information in an attempt to canvas the world with your message, don't expect a lot of response. People view that as SPAM.) When other forum members see you participating, they will be less likely to view you as an outsider just trying to sell them something.

4. Does Every Company Need a Blog?

If you're the local pack and ship operating in a strip mall, chances are a blog isn't going to help your business, but blogging is another way in which many companies can make forays into social media and be discovered online by their potential customers, and it won't require spending a large amount of money to do so. Where I have seen corporate blogs fall short is in the area of content.

If your posts are entirely focused on your company and your industry, written in a manner more suited to a press release, expect interest in your blog to never really catch fire. You can also expect that very few people will comment on your blog. Does anyone outside of your company care that you hired a new employee or that John Doe was employee of the month? No. And they won't subscribe to your feed or bother to check in on a blog like that. A blog is a chance to let people see behind the corporate facade, giving your company a human face. And on the subject of content, a blog that gets updated once a month will never generate an audience. You've got to post with a fair amount of frequency, keeping it fresh and lively, adding pictures, links to interesting stories and a healthy dose of non-industry news and opinion. Learn how to tag your posts. Learn to utilize Technorati and RSS feeds. Start tracking other blogs and setting up alerts when selected keywords get tagged, then get out there and make relevant comments when another blogger posts something that might pertain to your business and industry. You can become an authority in you sector in a short amount of time.